NEARLY 6.5 per cent of officers surveyed said they intend to leave Lancashire Police within the next two years, a union has said.

Bosses at Lancashire Police Federation have called on the services senior management to take action to improve working conditions and ease demand for staff.

MORE TOP STORIES:

The federation’s annual pay and moral survey shows 45 per cent of respondents had low personal morale, whilst 77 per cent believed there was low morale across the service.

More than 60 per cent said they would not recommend joining the police to others, 53 per cent said they do not feel valued and 6.7 per cent revealed they intend to leave the police within the next two years.

Federation chairman Rachel Baines said the figures were down on the previous year but were still a concern.

Mrs Baines said: “This is a survey we do every year to try and gauge officers morale. Although morale has improves slightly over the last 12 months, it is still a very worrying situation.

“People are still feeling very vulnerable, especially given the recent incident in Cleveleys where an officer was stabbed.

“With the loss of 900 officers the extra strain has been placed on those who have been left behind.

“There is a feeling the demand has increased and that has not been reflected with an increased number of officers.

“Our senior management are aware of the report and we would like to see what they can do to improve these figures and make the police a better place to work.”

Mrs Baines added that the federation was seeing an increase in the number of its members suffering with stress and depression.

A total of 874 responses were received from Lancashire Police, representing a response rate of around 31 per cent based on March 2016 Home Office figures of officer headcount.

Last year it was feared Lancashire would lose £24.5 million from its budget after a Home Office error was made in the way its central Government funding entitlement was worked out.

That process, which would have led to the loss of hundreds of jobs, was delayed in November.

Lancashire Police declined to comment on the report.

But last month the service announced it is taking on 160 new police recruits.